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An Attack on Zawadzki's Quantum Authentication Scheme
Carlos E González-Guillén1, María Isabel González Vasco2, Floyd Johnson3
1Departamento de Matemática Aplicada a la Ingeniería Industrial, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain.
Entropy (Basel, Switzerland)
|April 3, 2021
Summary
This study proves Zawadzki's quantum identity authentication protocol is insecure. An attack using quantum measurement principles significantly reduces security, compromising the shared secret.
Area of Science:
- Quantum Cryptography
- Information Security
Background:
- Interactive cryptographic protocols are essential for identity verification.
- Quantum computation necessitates quantum-resistant identification schemes.
- Zawadzki proposed a novel quantum identity authentication protocol.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze the security of Zawadzki's quantum identity authentication protocol.
- To demonstrate the protocol's vulnerability to attacks.
- To assess the impact of quantum measurement principles on security.
Main Methods:
- Formal proof of insecurity based on theoretical impossibility results.
- Development and presentation of a specific attack strategy.
- Application of the principle of conclusive exclusion on quantum measurements.
Main Results:
- The protocol is formally proven to be insecure.
- An attack successfully extracts information about the shared secret.
- Security is reduced by a factor of two after three attempts due to key space reduction.
Conclusions:
- Zawadzki's protocol does not provide the claimed security.
- Quantum measurement attacks can effectively compromise quantum identity schemes.
- Further research is needed for secure quantum identity authentication.